Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said employees in contractual positions in the Bangladesh Bank will be dismissed after the end of their tenures to strength the central bank administration.
“The central bank is full of Officers on Special Duty (OSD) who former governor Atiur Rahman appointed,” the minister said yesterday at his secretariat office, meeting reporters after returning from an investment summit in St Petersburg.
“The bank authority is now taking action against staff and officials who were involved with the reserve heist incident,” he added.
He claimed it will not affect the functioning of the bank.
Muhith said there were a total of 200 officials in Bangladesh Bank in two-year contracts.
“Bangladesh Bank regular staff are almost non-functional, so the contractual staff should be out when their tenures end,” he said.
These officials are outsiders, have no allegiance to Bangladesh Bank and act like consultants, the minister said.
On taking action against officials and staff responsible in the heist, Muhith said the Anti-Corruption Commission had filed cases against allegedly involved officials and the central bank had submitted its report on the reserve heist incident.
Bangladesh Bank was seriously looking at its own operation now and a big reform exercise was underway, Muhith said.
“Security system of Bangladesh is almost non-functional and the bank’s own security system is very poor. Bangladesh Bank will develop its own security system,” Muhith said.
The minister said Bangladesh Bank did not want to disclose the final investigation report as they were already taking action against persons accused in the central bank reserve heist incident as per the recommendations of the Farashuddin report.
On Tuesday, the finance minister said the final investigation report of Bangladesh Bank reserve heist would be made public after the vacation of Eid-ul-Fitr.
On May 30, the former central bank governor Mohammed Farashuddin submitted the investigation report to the finance minister.